The explosion in Vrbetica: the Czech Republic wants to demand from the Russian Federation at least 39 million euros in compensation | News from Germany about Europe

The Czech Republic will demand from Russia at least 1 billion Czech crowns (39 million euros) compensation for damage incurred as a result of an explosion of ammunition in a warehouse in Vrbetica in October 2014. This was stated by Deputy Prime Minister, Finance Minister Alena Shillerova. Her words were quoted on Saturday, May 8, by the Czech TV channel Česká televize.

“The most viable path, which seems to be the best, is international compensation in accordance with international law, because if we go, for example, by compensation for damage through criminal proceedings, it will take a very long time,” Shillerova emphasized.

Member of the Czech Parliament Ondřej Benešík, in turn, expressed the opinion that it would be difficult to obtain compensation from Russia, but Prague should take this step.

Diplomatic scandal between Prague and Moscow

A diplomatic scandal between Russia and the Czech Republic erupted after Andrei Babis and Czech Foreign Minister Jan Hamacek on April 17 reported evidence of the involvement of the Russian military intelligence GRU in the explosions at the ammunition depot in the village of Vrbetice in 2014. In this regard, Prague expelled 18 Russian diplomats.

In turn, Moscow denied all charges against it and announced the expulsion of 20 Czech diplomats.

As a sign of solidarity with the Czech Republic, Russian diplomats were also expelled from Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. For its part, Bulgaria announced at the end of April one of the employees of the Russian embassy in Sofia persona non grata in connection with suspicions of the involvement of the Russian special services in four explosions at military warehouses and factories that occurred between 2011 and 2020.

See also:

High-profile spy scandals in the history of special services
Double agent, dancer and courtesan
In the 1910s, young Margareta Gertrude Zelle from the Netherlands began her career as a dancer in Paris under the pseudonym Mata Hari. She moved in high society in France and entered into contact with officers and politicians. In view of this, she was recruited by German intelligence, and after a while – by French counterintelligence: when Mata Hari agreed to become a double agent, the French exposed her.

High-profile spy scandals in the history of special services
Spouses Rosenberg
In the early 1950s, the case of the communists Julius and Ethel Rosenberg split American society. The spouses were accused of transferring secret information about the US nuclear program to Moscow. While some saw the death sentence imposed on him as a necessary measure, in the eyes of others, they were innocent victims who suffered for their beliefs. Despite international protests, the couple were executed in 1953.

High-profile spy scandals in the history of special services
Spy in the Office of the Chancellor
What began in the FRG as a spy scandal soon escalated into a crisis on a national scale. The personal assistant of ex-chancellor Willy Brandt Gunther Guillaume (pictured in the center) turned out to be an agent of the GDR and handed over secret documents from the Chancellor’s office to the Stasi. The fact of the penetration of the GDR spy into the very center of the FRG policy shocked the public and contributed to the resignation of Willy Brandt.

High-profile spy scandals in the history of special services
“Cambridge Five”
In 1979, former Cambridge University student Anthony Blunt found himself at the center of one of the UK’s biggest spy scandals. He admitted that he was part of a group of five agents who had access to the highest government circles and supplied the USSR with information of strategic importance. Four agents were exposed; the identity of the fifth has not yet been established.

High-profile spy scandals in the history of special services
From exploration to the podium
In 2010, the United States arrested the daughter of a Russian diplomat, Anna Chapman, on charges of spying for Russia. Chapman and nine other alleged Russian agents were then traded for Russians convicted of spying for Western countries. Returning to Moscow, Chapman began her career there as a model and TV presenter on the REN TV channel, and also starred in an erotic photo shoot in Maxim magazine.

High-profile spy scandals in the history of special services
Spy Full House
Every Tuesday, the alleged housewife Haidrun Anshlag sat down at her shortwave radio in the city of Marburg and listened to instructions from the intelligence headquarters in Moscow. This went on for over 20 years. Living in Germany under the guise of Austrian citizens, she and her husband handed over several hundred NATO and EU strategy documents to the Russian side. In 2013, both were found guilty of espionage.

High-profile spy scandals in the history of special services
Spy Strauss?
Former head of the Christian Social Union, Franz Josef Strauss, managed to attract press attention even many years after his death. Strauss was allegedly an agent of the US military intelligence service OSS, the predecessor of the FBI. The Federal Center for Political Education of the Federal Republic of Germany released this information to the 100th anniversary of the birth of the politician. The results of the report, however, remain controversial.

High-profile spy scandals in the history of special services
Espionage: version 2.0
If during the Cold War, governments feared double agents, today they are wiretapped by the special services. An interview with Edward Snowden and 1.7 million secret FBI documents released in 2013 provide evidence of how the United States, together with other countries, is conducting global surveillance by wiretapping and storing the data of millions of Internet users.
Author: Nina Nibergal, Alexandra Yolkina